Community Cafe Bainbridge

Bainbridge Youth Services (BYS) and the Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island are working together to promote the social and emotional wellbeing of our adolescents and young adults. One way they do this is through sponsorship of a summer internship program where high school students get real world work experience with local employers.

In 2017, the summer internship program had 25 employers and 35 interns, but this year, BYS and Rotary are looking to expand it significantly. Listen here as BYS president Tom McCloskey explains how the program is expanding and evolving to better accommodate the needs of both youth and their employers.

The benefits for youth are obvious: whether their internships are paid or unpaid; whether they last just a few weeks or a whole summer; the young people who participate get meaningful job skills, build a strong work ethic and are exposed to a sector or industry of interest. Their experiences as interns in island businesses can help frame who they are and shape what they do with their lives.

But employers benefit as well: these internships offer an incredible opportunity to employ talented young people doing tasks that can prove essential to the long-term success of their businesses and organizations. In fact, so many summer interns have contributed to the success of organizations that many have gone on to become full-time employees.

The process for employers to participate is easy: not only will youth services work directly with you to help define the work and to facilitate the hiring, but also there are funds available to help pay the interns for the job you need them to accomplish: a total win-win for all.

If you’re interested in participating or would like to learn more, please visit the BYS website at https://askbys.org/youth-programs/ or contact Tom directly at [email protected].

Credits: BCB host: Christina Hulet; audio editor and publisher: Diane Walker.

Struggling with reduced eyesight? Bainbridge Island's VIP support group can help. Founded in 1992, the VIP has been helping Visually Impaired Persons for over 25 years.

The VIP group offers a variety of resources, including help with medical issues, adaptive aids, and reading materials, access to social services and transportation, opportunities to socialize,and current information and training about the exciting breakthroughs in technology that can make it much easier to adapt to your changing circumstances.

In this podcast BCB host Diane Walker speaks with Jerry Brader and Megan Hawgood, the current president and secretary of VIP.  Megan and Jerry (who is also known as Majick the Clown) are here to tell us about the group's monthly meetings at the Bainbridge Library, the speakers they provide, and all the services they make available to assist people who are dealing with loss of vision.

For more information about the VIP, or to join the list of people who record their readings of the Review and the Islander each week, email [email protected]

Credits:  BCB host: Diane Walker; BCB audio editor and tech: Chris Walker; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

The community of Fort Ward is working together to restore the fort's historic bakery building for use as a community hall and gathering place.

A collaborative effort of Friends of Fort Ward, the Fort Ward Youth Advisory Committee, the Bainbridge Island Metro Park and Recreation District, Kitsap County Sewer District No. 7, and residents of the Fort Ward neighborhood, the project also has the support of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.

In this podcast, BCB host and Fort Ward resident Christina Hulet talks with Friends of Fort Ward board president Douglas Crist about the project and the building's history. Listen here to learn more about these exciting restoration plans, the Fort Ward neighborhood, and the key historic role Fort Ward played in WWII.

For more information about the project, visit https://fortwardhall.org/.

Credits:  BCB host: Christina Hulet; BCB audio editor and social media publisher: Diane Walker.

What do a  kindergartner, a 12th grader, and a school bus driver have in common? Each has the potential to be awarded the Bainbridge Island School District's new BISD Strong Award.

This award, created as part of a new initiative around raising social and emotional health, will be presented every fall, winter, spring, and summer to one person in each of the following categories: kindergarten-6h grade; 7th-12th grade; and BISD staff (teachers, transportation, technology, capital projects, food services, etc.)

In this podcast, School Superintendent Dr. Peter Bang-Knudsen and Erin Bischoff, the district's public relations officer, discuss this award and its success, as well as the background philosophy and values around social and emotional health.

Anyone (other than family members) can nominate a student or staff member who deserves recognition by going to the BISD website: www.bisd303.org . Nominations are ongoing throughout the  school year, but evaluated each quarter by a specially selected committee.

The next BISD Strong Award will be presented in February (the exact date and locations are kept secret), so if you know a student or staff member who deserves recognition, be sure to visit the BISD website and let the school district know about individuals you've met who demonstrate the district's guiding principles of "strong minds, strong hearts, and strong community."

Credits: BCB host: Carolyn Goad; BCB audio tech: Chris Walker; audio editor and social media publisher: Diane Walker.

In an inspiring example of community collaboration, the Battle Point Astronomical Association and Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network are teaming up to upgrade the BPAA telescopes and functionality.

In December of 2017 the Bainbridge City Council, acting on the recommendations of the Cultural Funding Advisory Committee, awarded a grant of $20,000 to be used to repair and restore the Edwin Ritchie telescope, which is the largest telescope in Washington State and one of the very few publicly accessible telescopes in the Pacific Northwest.

Using the skills and resources of the BARN facilities and volunteers, the main telescope will be retrofitted, the numerous smaller donated telescopes will be repaired as needed and made available to the public, repairs will be made to the observatory's leaky roof, cabinetry and furnishings will be provided to house and support educational activities, and video equipment will be developed to make it possible to transmit images from the telescope via the internet.

Listen here as BCB host Sonia Scaer talks with BARN's Peter Moseley and BPAA's Stephen Ruhl about their plans for the collaboration and the learning and volunteer opportunities involved.

To learn more about the project or to volunteer, contact Stephen Ruhl at [email protected] or Peter Moseley at [email protected].

Credits:  BCB host: Sonia Scaer; BCB audio editor and social media publisher: Diane Walker.

'Net neutrality' is a value that helps to make the internet so valuable as a democratic and level playing field of ideas for one and all -- including those of us who use the world wide web or bring services and information to the public as BCB does.

In a week when internet users across the country are taking action on July 12th to show that our current national policy of net neutrality continues to be desirable, BCB wanted to reach out to the manager who oversees Kitsap Public Utility District's public broadband activities to get his take.

In this podcast, we meet Paul Avis, who is the superintendent of the KPUD department that has constructed and maintains our public high speed fiber optic internet backbone on Bainbridge Island and in other parts of our county. That backbone construction started over 15 years ago. KPUD makes their wholesale broadband services available to governmental, commercial and residential users through a variety of independent internet service provider (ISP) retailers.

In this podcast, Paul describes KPUD's approach to offering high-speed broadband connectivity on a nonprofit basis to the community (including to our new building at BARN). And he answers questions about net neutrality from BCB host Barry Peters.

BCB asked these questions this month to coincide with the national Net Neutrality Day of Action on Wednesday July 12th. On that day, internet users and web communicators as small as local bloggers, popular YouTube video makers and the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- and as large as Netflix, Amazon, Google and Facebook -- are urging our national government to preserve the FCC's existing policy of net neutrality rather than succumb to calls from big telecom and cable companies to de-regulate them.

For more information, visit this website for the Net Neutrality Day of Action.

For more information about KPUD's local public broadband backbone and willingness to serve more neighborhoods and business parks, visit KPUD's webpage about their local communications network and broadband services.

Credits: BCB host, audio editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.

In this quick 9-minute podcast, City Communications Manager Kellie Stickney describes the new City program that offers you an opportunity to apply for funding for a project to benefit your neighborhood. Projects as small as $100 or as large as $5,000 can qualify for funding.

She explains that applications are now being received at City Hall for the 2017 round of funding. It's a competitive process, based on written applications from residents who are willing to be a neighborhood project advocate. Final decisions will be made by vote of the City Council.

Kelly points out that this is the first year of the program, and $10,000 has been budgeted for this year's applicant neighborhoods. Already, several neighborhoods have submitted funding applications for projects, so she encourages you not to miss the opportunity to apply.

On the podcast, she offers several examples of promising projects for neighborhood funding.

Kelly explains that the City's "matching" dollars can match 2-to-1 either the dollars raised by the neighborhood for the project OR the value of volunteer labor for the neighborhood project. Volunteer labor is valued at approximately $28 per hour, so each hour can trigger about $56 in City matching funding.

For further information, go to the City's webpage for the "Neighborhood Matching Grant" program where you can also obtain an application form and instructions. You can contact Kellie with questions via her email address, here.

Credits: BCB host, audio editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.

In this 26-minute podcast, we learn the pros and cons of 6 alternative sites for the proposed new building for the City's police department and municipal court.

We meet the local Bainbridge architect chosen by the City Council to review and rate the potential sites, Matthew Coates, who is president of Coates Design. And the conversation is joined by City Communications Manager Kellie Stickney, who reports on the citizen engagement session at City Hall on April 12th, when about 100 citizens offered feedback on the sites under consideration.

Matthew reports on the months of comparative analysis, and his findings, since he was appointed by the City Council last October.

Kellie encourages citizens to stay engaged in this open process to identify the best site and eventually design a building that could embody green and sustainable design features, and offer public benefits for decades to come.

Matthew describes the three sites that look least promising, in part because of inadequate size:
- Yaquina Road, east of 305
- North Madison Ave above 305, and
- 249 Winslow Way East.

And Matthew explains the pros and cons of the 3 highest scoring sites:
- New Brooklyn Road (the highest scoring site)
- wooded land north of Vineyard Lane, and
- the existing site at 305 and Winslow Way.

Citizens are encouraged to attend the next public meeting on this topic, at the 7pm meeting of the City Council on Tuesday May 2nd, when there will be a formal presentation by Matthew Coates and an opportunity for additional public comment.

Credits: BCB host, audio editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.

This podcast provides insights into the caring, concerns and community values that motivated our City Council to adopt a Resolution Affirming Bainbridge Island as a Welcoming and Inclusive City. That action was intended to reaffirm our City's long history of supporting civil and human rights, and to protect targeted groups and vulnerable individuals.

The resolution and an accompanying legal ordinance were unanimously approved by the Council less than 2 weeks after President Trump promulgated a ban on refugees and immigrants from any of 7 mostly-Moslem countries. That ban was promptly held unlawful by federal courts in a case brought by our State Attorney General with the strong encouragement of our Governor Jay Inslee, who himself is a resident of Bainbridge Island.

The City's compassionate action occurs in this year in which we will soon mark the 75th anniversary of the forced removal of more than 200 Japanese Americans from their homes on our island to internment camps during World War II.

In this candid and personal podcast conversation, we meet Mike Scott, a former School Board member who now serves as one of our 7 elected members of City Council, and who championed this resolution and ordinance.

Also on this podcast, we hear from two local advocates for the City's action. Ray Garrido is the Legal Services Director of Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center (KIAC). And Althea Paulson is a Bainbridge resident, mom, blogger, activist and former attorney who is now volunteering with KIAC. Both of those individuals played active roles in assisting Mike Scott with the preparation of the resolution. And, in this podcast, Althea makes an impassioned plea for your donations to the Immigrant Assistance Center.

This podcast conversation reveals profoundly moving insights into the concerns, motivations and person-to-person caring that came to the fore in this outstanding example of principled civic leadership.

Credits: BCB host, audio editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.

Bainbridge Island is a community that loves its library, and library users have a treat in store when this year's "Refresh" project expands the library's meeting room and improves its facilities -- in keeping with their slogan "A vibrant space for everyone".

In this 16-minute podcast conversation, Bainbridge Branch Manager Rebecca Judd and Bainbridge Public Library board president Eric Petersen describe how excited they are about the improvements that will be constructed this year, between March and this Fall.

The Library will remain open throughout the construction project. Some services will move around the building as the project proceeds. To keep up with the changes, check the Bainbridge Library website and the KRL Bainbridge branch website that describes library services and events.

They explain our Library's innovative working relationship -- a public-private partnership -- between the Kitsap Regional Library system for staffing and services that we support through local tax levies, and the private nonprofit Bainbridge Public Library that thrives on local donations for the ownership, maintenance and operation of our library building.

Eric describes the funding of this $1.2 million improvement -- with about $1 million coming from contributed dollars accumulated over the years in the Library's reserves, plus $100,000 coming from a major Bainbridge Rotary Club donation from proceeds of the annual Rummage Sale. It was the first Rotary rummage sale almost 60 years ago that produced the funds to initially build the Library.

Other large funding sources include Friends of the Library Book Sales, and grants from Bainbridge Community Foundation and Kitsap Community Foundation. Dollars from local citizens in the One Call for All red envelope campaigns are also vital for annual building operations. Pacific Heights Construction (PHC), which built the LEED energy award-winning Art Museum and the green-built Grow Community, won the construction contract.

Credits: BCB host, audio editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.